Left Plaque
Posey County History
The first recorded white man to come to Posey County was Tom Jones in 1794. Posey County was named in honor of Thomas Posey. Governor of the Indiana Territory at the time it was created on Sept. 7, 1814. After several changes the present boundary lines were fixed in 1823.
The first horse-powered mill was built in 1810 by James Black. The first County Seat was Blackford in Jan. 1815, and the first Court was held in Blackford in Oct. 1816. The County Seat was moved to Mt. Vernon in 1825. The seal of Posey County, adopted in 1835, was in honor of William Henry Harrison.
The plank road with toll gates was built between New Harmony and Mt. Vernon in 1851. The first women's club in the United States was the Minerva Society, organized in New Harmony in 1859. The first railroad line through Posey County was the St. Louis and Southeastern in 1869.
The present Court House was built in 1867 at a cost of $95,000. The first Judge of Posey County Circuit Court was Isaac Blackford. The County Clerk and Recorder was William E. Stewart. The Treasurer was Samuel Jones. The Auditor was Thomas F. Prosser, and the Sheriff was John Carson.
Posey County's most famous town, New Harmony, was the site of two experiments in Communal living: first under Father Rapp, The Harmony Society from 1814 to 1824, and then under Robert Owen from 1825 to 1860.
Donated by Mt. Vernon Civitan Club
Sept. 1, 1979
Right Plaque
Early Mt. Vernon History
A Scotchman, Andrew (Tweedle-Dee-Dum) McFadin, a friend of Daniel Boone, crossed the Ohio and discovered the location of our present city in 1798. He was determined to make it his home because of its elevation. In 1806 he built a log cabin at the foot of what is now College Avenue. He was joined by two cousins, William and "Slim Andy" Andrew McFadin. At the suggestion of Wm. McFadin they called the site McFadin's Bluff. The McFadin's were joined by William Weir, Thomas Givens, Aaron Williams, Aaron Burlison, Absolum Duckworth, Paul and Thomas Casselberry, Thomas Duckworth, William and Hugh Todd, John Black, and the Rev. Samuel Jones a Baptist Minister.
General William Henry Harrison purchased all of the section's 371.82 acres on May 25, 1807.
The first white child born in the vicinity was Malinda Weir in 1807. In 1811 the first steamboat passed the village. The first school was built in 1814. On "Muster Day" in 1816 Sam Rowe proposed honoring George Washington by changing the town's name to Mt. Vernon. In 1816 the first plat was laid out by John Wagoner, on the West side of Mill Creek and the present public square. Fifteen families were living in Mt. Vernon at the time. The County Seat was moved to Mt. Vernon in 1825. The first incorporation was in 1832. The first Lodge was instituted in 1848, the I.O.O.F. Mt Vernon was incorporated the second time in 1849. At that time 350 people lived in the village.
Information by
Posey County Historical Society
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